The Al Rashad psychiatric hospital in Baghdad houses more than 1,200 patients.
While some of the patients have been living at the hospital for several years, the hospital says the number of new arrivals has gradually increased.
“The current number of patients in al-Rashad hospital is 1,215. This number has gradually increased with the increase in population of Iraq which has now reached 35 million people. The patient numbers also continue to rise due to the psychological illnesses and difficult circumstances facing our country, such as war, social circumstance and instability,” said the hospital's director, Ali Rasheed.
Conflict and violence have taken their toll on the Iraqi people. And the hospital -- the country's largest psychiatrist facility -- is short of doctors.
There are only 14 doctors, while the hospital needs at least 110 doctors and other medics, Rasheed said.
Some patients have recovered, but they are still at the hospital as they are unable to find jobs.
REUTERS
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